Psychopathological Dynamics of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Visually Impaired Patients

Perinatal damage to the central nervous system affects both refractogenesis and the formation of central vision in young children. Directly acting on neuronal systems, brain damage can be the main cause of the pathogenesis of mental disorders that can manifest throughout life.

The methods of neurosonography, computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, as well as clinical, psychodiagnostic, and statistical methods were used to study the peculiarities of the psychopathological structure of mental disorders in people with visual impairments due to perinatal pathology.

The severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms showed that 59.4% of the F42 group had moderate symptoms, while 34.8% of the F21 group had serious symptoms (χ2 = 6.154, p = 0.013). Clinical anxiety was significantly more prevalent in the F42 group (53.1%) compared to the F21 group (13.0%) (χ2 = 27.774, p < 0.001), and clinical depression was also more frequent in the F42 group (24%) than in the F21 group (2.9%) (χ2 = 13.846, p < 0.001). A majority of F42 patients (60.4%) rated their quality of life as low, compared to 40.6% in the F21 group (χ2 = 6.324, p = 0.012). Regarding social support, 68.8% of F42 patients received support from family, compared to 49.3% in the F21 group (χ2 = 6.377, p = 0.012).

The obtained data contribute to the development and implementation of the algorithm of differentiated medical and social rehabilitation of patients with visual impairments and mental disorders in order to improve their quality of life.